Ontario Teachers’ Federation (OTF) Board of Governors elected Brantford teacher, Chris Cowley, as the 82nd President of OTF at its Annual Meeting in Markham on Tuesday, August 26, 2025.
Cowley previously served as OTF’s 74th and 78th President, making him the first President in OTF’s history to serve three terms.
Cowley obtained his honours B.A., B.Ed and M.Ed. at the University of Western Ontario. He has been teaching Canadian and World Studies and Religious Studies at St. John’s College in Brantford since 2004.
Since 2005, Cowley has been active in the Ontario English Catholic Teachers’ Association (OECTA), both locally and provincially. He served as OTF Table Officer from 2015 to 2023 and as provincial Vice-President from 2023 to 2025, representing teachers’ interests at numerous provincial, national, and international tables.
Cowley’s career has been guided by his dedication to publicly funded education, OTF members, and students.
“As publicly funded schools continue to face challenges caused by underfunding, OTF stands ready to defend quality publicly funded and delivered education for all students in the province,” said Cowley. “Ontario teachers have always been committed to building an education system that works to advance Ontario’s values, and I look forward to building on that tradition to advance the profession we love, and the students we serve.”
Also elected at the same meeting were:
Past President: Mike Foulds, Owen Sound
First Vice-President: Nathan Core, Waterloo
Second Vice-President: Nathalie Drolet, Corbeil
The Ontario Teachers’ Federation is the advocate for the teaching profession in Ontario and for its 160,000-plus teachers. OTF members are full-time, part-time and occasional teachers in all the publicly funded schools in the province; elementary, secondary, public, Catholic and francophone.
